A fall in the right direction
by Whiteghost37
Summary: Merlin falls, Arthur feels guilty? My first Merthur story. Modern AU, slash. Enjoy!


Merlin had never been graceful. He was rather clumsy if you asked him, a complete disaster if you asked anyone else. He couldn't go a day without falling, or making someone else trip.  
Anyway, because of his clumsiness he had lost a bet. A bet Will, his best friend, made about him. Merlin, being the good friend he is, had accepted it, although reluctantly, and had lost. This loss meant he was to serve Prince Prat for a month, also known as Arthur Pendragon. Arthur wasn't really a prince, but his father, Uther, was an influent(and scary) man with a lot of money.

Merlin had forgotten what the bet was about, but he cursed Will under his breath as he washed the prat's clothes. Of course it was a fragile material and couldn't be washed in the machine, noo the prat had to have his clothes washed by hand. What was worse was that Merlin had never seen him use these clothes, not that he had been looking...

"Here!" He shoved the clothes into Arthur's arms the next morning they met up before school.  
"Now Merlin, no need to be sulky. You agreed to this you know;" Arthur smirked and put the clothes on a stool by the door.

Being Arthur's "servant" meant he had to do almost everything he was ordered to do, and tasks were given to him to do at home which he had to return the next morning. He lived just five minutes away from the ridiculously large manor the Pendragon family owned and they got on the school bus at the same place. But he felt humiliated by it all, he had to follow Arthur everywhere for heaven's sake. Sure, most of the classes they had together, but Merlin would like to sit with his friends instead of sitting next to a royal prat. He really missed talking to Gwen.

"Come on Merlin, we're gonna be late!" Arthur shouted as they walked to the bus stop, making Merlin look up and almost trip over his own feet.  
"There's five minutes left," He answered.  
"Well, with you tripping over your own feet every second step we're going to get there in fifteen," Arthur mocked.  
Merlin glared, and when Arthur had turned his back to him he stuck his tongue out.

At school he had to carry Arthur's bag as well as his own, it was quite heavy and Merlin was convinced that Arthur put rocks in his bag just to mock Merlin's lack of strength.  
This day wasn't different from the others since that stupid bet and Merlin ground his teeth together as he carried a tray with food to the table where Arthur was seated, his friends laughing at something Arthur had said, Merlin had a sneaky feeling it had been about him.  
A sudden shove made Merlin stop cursing the prat and focused on putting his foot in front of the other and not fall in the process.  
Apparently he didn't have that much luck this day. A pair of hands were suddenly on his back, and in the next second he was on the floor, food splattered all over his clothes, glass digging into his kneecaps and an unknown pain went through his left arm.

"Merlin, you clumsy oaf! Get up from there," Arthur was towering over him, a dark aura emitting from him.

Merlin put his hands on the floor to push himself up and an agonizing pain shot through his arm. He gave a small cry in pain, and then a pair of hands helped him up, holding his shoulders in a light grip.  
He got to his feet and stared right into Arthur's extremely blue eyes.

"You're bleeding," Arthur said, pointing at his knees.  
Merlin looked down, his right kneecap had two, rather large, shards of glass stuck in it. It was not stuck deep but it still bled. He looked at his arm, where Arthur's eyes were now as well. His wrist was in a strange angle and wouldn't be moved.

Of some unknown reason, Arthur had come with him to the hospital to get his arm put in a plaster and then came with him home.

"Your mother is out of town this week, is she not?" Arthur asked, looking at Merlin's slightly pale face.  
"Yeah, she had to go, for work. But I'm fine," Merlin said with a small smile.  
Arthur did not look convinced:  
"Look, it's sort of my fault that you're in this state. And the Doctor said you had taken a nasty bump to the head. Your arm is broken and your knee had to be stitched. I can't leave you alone like this."  
"Arthur I'm fine, no need to worry, really. It was only two stitches I'll just rest it off."  
"I won't be responsible if you lose consciousness, just pack some clothes and then come with me so I can look after you," Arthur's voice was so stern that Merlin didn't dare to oppose him.  
"But..." He tried, he really didn't want to meet Uther.  
"My father is rarely home. He's somewhere in Scotland I think. And I'm sure Morgana won't mind."  
Merlin nodded dumbly and got in to pack a few belongings.

He had never been further than the threshold in the manor and was stunned by the size of it. It was richly furnished and nicely decorated.  
The guestroom he would live in for the moment was a deep blue, like Arthur's eyes, and there was a huge bed by the window, opposite the door.

"Wow," was the only thing he could think to say.  
Arthur laughed softly:  
"My room is just next to yours if there's anything you need. It's late, and you should sleep."  
"I... Sure. I guess this whole servant thing is over now?"  
"Yes _Merlin, _I doubt you can do much with that arm, and it certainly won't make you more graceful. Go to sleep."  
"I will. Oh, and Arthur. Thank you!"  
Arthur cast a quick glance at him and then looked away:  
"Sleep."  
"Goodnight Arthur."  
What the..? Had Arthur just... blushed?

Having an overprotective Arthur around all the time wasn't as boring as it first sounded. If you got to know the guy he was actually a very nice person. Merlin had got to know some interesting facts about him, like, the guy had excellent marks in every subject but his favourite was English, he wrote stories but couldn't finish them. Arthur had a hero complex, Merlin suspected it was because of that the guy had made him come to his house. He and Morgana weren't really siblings, Uther had been married to her mother whom had died in a car accident, and her father had been a mean drunk, so Uther had adopted her. But, the most surprising fact was that Arthur was bisexual. Merlin was gay himself, bur he had never seen this coming. They had gotten to know each other the day before, Merlin had been in pain because of his arm and Arthur had called them both in sick, so he could look after Merlin.

They were in school now; Arthur was presenting his best friend Lance to Gwen, who had had a crush on Lance since kindergarten. This was a fact that was obvious to everybody except the man in question, who had a rather big crush on Gwen himself, if his flushed face was anything to go by. Merlin smirked as Gwen blushed when Lance offered his hand and they went to sit on a bench nearby. He and Arthur started walked towards a large oak tree at the schoolyard, placed far away from the noises that surrounded the area:  
"You're quite the matchmaker, aren't you?" Merlin asked with a small smirk.  
"When living together with Morgana you learn a few things about matchmaking," Arthur said sounding slightly bored.  
"Ah, the glamorous Lady Morgana. Where is she anyway?" Merlin looked around the school yard, expecting to see the long, shiny black haired, young woman somewhere.  
"She's probably with Sophia somewhere, hiding and making out. They usually do that at lunch break," Arthur said with a small shrug.

Merlin sat stunned for a few minutes, but then concluded that it wasn't that shocking. A woman could probably handle Morgana better than a man, Morgana manipulated almost every man with her beauty.

"Hey Merlin?" Arthur's voice pulled Merlin out of his musings.  
"Yeah?"  
"Do you know who it was that pushed you?"  
"It could have been anyone, there were a lot of people around you know," Merlin answered, seemingly uncaring, though he was pretty sure he knew who it was. "Hey Arthur, wanna see a magic trick?" Merlin smiled, to take Arthur's mind of the subject.  
Arthur looked curious:  
"Sure."

Merlin positioned himself on his knees, eye to eye with Arthur. He held his right hand up, then he slowly raised the hand towards Arthur's ear. When he pulled his hand back there was a £20 note in it. He smiled at Arthur's shocked expression:  
"Want it?" He held out the note.  
"You... Your eyes. They... they flashed gold," Arthur stammered.  
Merlin blushed:  
"They tend to do that. Don't know why," he mumbled, turning his eyes to the ground.

His Uncle Gaius had always told him that he was special, the magic he preformed was one of a kind. Gaius wasn't really his Uncle, but as good as. His mother and Gaius were really good friends, practically brother and sister, they had grown up together.

Arthur put his hand on Merlin's cheek, bringing his eyes to meet his.  
"It's nothing to be ashamed of. I was just surprised is all. It was actually pretty cool."  
Merlin blushed harder. Those eyes... And those lips... Oh god no, now he had gone and fallen for the prat.

The week had past. Hunith, Merlin's mother, was back from her trip. She had been terrified when she had seen Merlin's arm, but he had assured her that he was fine. She had thanked Arthur profusely when she heard that he had looked after her son.

Merlin's arm was healing unnaturally fast according to the Doctor, soon the cast would be off and Merlin felt relieved at the thought.  
He still hung out with Arthur, they were really good friends, which made Merlin feel guilty when he caught himself thinking about how attractive he thought Arthur was.

They were in they canteen. Arthur was chatting away with a nice fellow called Leon. Merlin ate while reading a book about something or other, he couldn't really concentrate, it felt like was being watched.  
He had just finished that thought when he saw someone coming towards him, they eyes were filled with venom. Oh no, not Mordred. 

Mordred and Merlin had once been together. Merlin had been attracted to him because Mordred had magic, like him. Mordred's magic wasn't like Merlin's, he could feel that, but it was magic none the less. But Merlin had broken it up, Mordred was far too possessive and rough, Merlin hadn't felt safe with him. But Mordred had yet to realise that it was over.

Merlin got up from his seat He was ready when the ball of fire came towards him, Mordred's eyes had turned sickly green before he threw the spell. He put the fire out with his own ball of water. Mordred's face twisted in anger. Through the corner of his eye Merlin saw Arthur get up, he saw how Mordred's second spell, a ball of lightning, was directed at Arthur. Without thinking Merlin threw himself in front of Arthur, the ball hitting his stomach. It felt like going through a power line, and then all went black.

He woke up to the sound of Arthur's voice. His body ached terribly and he felt hot.

"Arthur?" Merlin opened his eyes, staring directly in to those blue orbs.  
"Merlin!"  
"That's my name... How long have I been out?"  
"Three days. You almost gave me a heart attack, you idiot!"  
"Sorry," Merlin couldn't think of anything else to say.

Arthur started rambling how scared he had been and how much of an idiot Merlin was, and how evil Mordred was... It gave Merlin a headache and he wanted it to shut up, so he did the first thing that came to mind. He kissed prat, full on the mouth, shutting him up effectively. Arthur stared at him for moment when it was over, and Merlin's face turned tomato red. But then Arthur smiled and kissed him, this time with their tongues playing for dominance. When the kiss ended Merlin was breathless, and looked up at Arthur with a goofy grin on his face.

"What happened to Mordred?" He suddenly remembered to ask.  
"That's the first thing you ask after kissing me? Am I really that bad?"  
Merlin gave him a "don't-be-such-an-idiot-look" Arthur laughed:  
"They took him in custody, he's not safe to be around," Arthur frowned at the thought of that almost-murderer.  
Merlin didn't think that frown suited his new boyfriend, so he wiped it away with another kiss.

They both smiled lovingly at each other. This would be interesting.

_*****The End*****_


End file.
